Isayev graduated magna cum laude from York University in Canada in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts in history and classical studies.

[3] Isayev received her PhD in 2000 from University College London for a thesis entitled Indigenous communities in Lucania: Social Organization and Political Forms, Fourth to First Century BC.

[4] Isayev integrates her research about ancient communities in relation to place and migration and applies it to modern contexts.

[5] She has worked with artists from Israel, Palestine, and Iraq to examine memory and place, particularly in refugee camps.

Her inaugural lecture, entitled "The Sky is Hidden: on the Opening of Language and Borders", was delivered on 7 March 2019.